The Sylvesters Vacation in San Diego
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day two hundred and eighty-six: On that year, vacation doesn't feel like a vacation, not family vacation.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 13th cycle. Now cycle 14!_

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**"The Sylvesters Vacation in San Diego"  
Sue & Brittany 15  
****Companion to the Sylvesters Series, , 3rd of 3 in Sylvesters Summer Vacation set**

She sat in the back, with Santana and the others, as the shuttle bus took off from the airport, taking them to their hotel. Her mother… no, her coach, was sitting at the front, reviewing some notes about their routines.

This was what had become of their summer vacation this year: another cheerleading competition. Only this time she wasn't going to be tagging along, wasn't going to just sit in their room and wait… It wasn't going to be their room; it was Coach Sylvester's room. Brittany's room was hers and three other Cheerios', separate. It seemed reasonable at first, just like keeping secret who her mother was also made sense. Only here, she would get these realizations, thinking this wasn't a vacation, like her mother would insist on calling it. Sometimes she'd wonder if her mother thought those words would make it all better and Brittany would just… forget and carry on.

But she looked forward to their vacations… It was the best time of the year, where they could just relax and be who they wanted to be. Only this year they weren't going to have that… what if they never had it again?

Their first practice, after they'd settled in, Brittany had stood there for a while, still trapped in her thoughts, which could well keep her in a daze for a while.

"Brittany!" the booming voice startled her and made her look down from above. Her coach was staring back at her, as were the other Cheerios. "Are we boring you? Or is the ceiling that interesting?"

"It… It's not the ceiling," she replied, then, "Sorry."

"Right, then, here we go, five, six, seven, eight!" came the bull horn call, and the Cheerios began their routine. Sue watched them closely, though after a moment she couldn't help but look up to see what had caught her daughter's attention.

She saw the colorful shutters, on windows up above, and her mind went the way Brittany's had, she imagined… Quebec, Bromont… She looked back to the dancing girls, to her… When they were done, she raised the horn again.

"That's lunch! Drink up, we're going to be here for a long time!" The guys and girls filed off from the stage. Sue watched them until the one she needed was nearing to exit, then called out. "Brittany, over here," she waved with the horn. Brittany broke from the ranks and walked up to her.

"I'm sorry," Brittany started. Sue was seeing the last of the squad pass through the door. Now she looked to her daughter.

"You do need to pay attention," she spoke, not so harsh now.

"I know," Brittany nodded. Sue looked at her for a moment, her daughter, already fifteen years lived… It didn't seem possible sometimes that so much time had passed already since she'd been a baby. But there they were.

"Come with me," she finally gave her a nod, leading her out another way than the others. "If they ask, I sent you to the gym, and you ran laps through lunch."

"Okay," Brittany agreed.

The next few days carried on with less distractions and more Cheerios practice. Finally the competition part was upon them, and that new bit of focus paid off with a crushing win and a massive trophy to bring back to McKinley. Said trophy was packed up and sent off with express instructions by the hand and voice of Sue Sylvester, and if they ever dared scratch the new trophy, they'd hear from her.

The morning had come for all of them to fly back to Lima. Everyone was up in their room packing. None of them had brought too many clothes, beyond their uniforms, so it saved them some time. Brittany was still having trouble managing to close her suitcase. She was almost tackling it when the room phone rang and one of the girls answered. It was Coach Sylvester calling, and she wasn't leaving with the girls – neither was Brittany. The way the message was relayed, there was something with her travel documents, so she'd miss the flight back, but the coach would stay with her. At hearing this, Brittany lost grip and her suitcase sprang open.

An hour later, Brittany watched the shuttled bus drive off with the rest of the team. She looked to her left, to her mother, still clueless.

"I extended my room one more day… best I could do," she revealed. Seeing the smile on Brittany's face, she knew it was just fine.

THE END

_And on my way out, a little survey of sorts! It's for something to come later ;)_

_Give me ONE show [everyone gets only one pick] you love the episode titles from [you can put along 3 to 5 of those episode titles along with it!]_

_[Still need 7 more!]_

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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